Olive curing typically involves the removal of bitter-tasting compounds, such as secoiridoids and polyphenols, from harvested olive fruit. Removal of the bittering compounds provides desirable food products from fruit that would be otherwise unpalatable to most consumers. Traditionally, curing processes are conducted using aqueous brine solutions containing lye (i.e., sodium hydroxide), salt (i.e., sodium chloride), and other agents to remove the bittering compounds from the olives. These methods are characterized by disadvantages including high volumes of contaminated wastewater, extended extraction times (up to months), high levels of sodium in the resulting food products, and the presence of certain carcinogens in the products. Accordingly, new processing methods are needed to address these disadvantages. Surprisingly, the present invention meets these and other needs.